Tag: Biblical Characters

Biblical People: Delilah

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 29, 2021

Though infamous for her tryst with bad-boy Samson, we know little about Delilah. The Bible says Samson falls in love with her. We assume it’s mutual, though for her it may just be for the sex or out of rebellion.

Whatever her motivation to hook up with the potent Samson, money soon becomes a more powerful incentive. When the Philistine leaders offer her silver if she can learn the secret behind her lover’s strength, she agrees. Eager to earn her reward, she plies Samson to reveal the source of his vigor.

Three times he toys with her, giving misinformation, which she accepts as truth. Each time the Philistines try to use this information to capture him, but they are unable to.

Embarrassed over her failures, and no doubt anxious to earn her payoff, she hounds him incessantly. Her nagging eventually wears him down, and he finally breaks. Now knowing the true secret to his strength, the Philistines capture him. Samson later dies in their chains.

Whatever Delilah thinks of Samson at first, she readily sells him out for a few sacks of silver.

What will we do for a paycheck? How far will we go to get money, power, or prestige?

[Discover more about Delilah in Judges 16:4–21.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

Tags Biblical Characters, Delilah

Biblical People

Biblical People: The Mother of Jephthah

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 25, 2021

Jephthah’s father is Gilead. His mother is a prostitute. The Bible doesn’t even bother to give her name. So begins the life of Jephthah. When he is older, his half brothers, sons of his father’s wife, chase Jephthah away. They don’t want him sharing in their inheritance. He leaves, carrying with him the stigma of his bastard birth.

We can only wonder if Jephthah’s mother has an ongoing relationship with his dad or if Jephthah’s conception is the result of a single night of unrestrained lust.

Scripture doesn’t say if Jephthah’s mother has other children or if she ever pulls herself out of a lifestyle of selling her body.

We don’t know if Jephthah’s mother is part of his life after he is born or if she retreats with him when he leaves town. Does Jephthah even know who his mom is? Scripture doesn’t tell us anything about her life or what forced her into prostitution. We only know that she has a son named Jephthah.

However, we do find out what happens to her son. When the townspeople need help, they know who to turn to. They retrieve Jephthah from exile and elevate him to commander over their army.

God’s spirit fills Jephthah. He is empowered. Jephthah leads the army into battle and scores a mighty victory, not only for the townspeople but for the entire nation of Israel. Jephthah is a hero, and he leads the people for the rest of his life.

Like Jephthah’s mother, we may not be living the life we want. We may not even be able to rise above our situation, but our reality doesn’t need to form our children’s future.

With God’s spirit they can rise above their circumstances and succeed. May it be so.

What can we do to help the next generation have a better future?

[Discover more about Jephthah’s mom in Judges 11:1–33.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Tags Biblical Characters, Jephthah, Mother of Jephthah

Biblical People

Biblical People: The Daughter of Jephthah

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 25, 2021

We don’t know the name of Jephthah’s daughter. But we lament what happened to her. We applaud the steadfast confidence in how she accepts her fate, revealing her deep faith in God.

The elders of Gilead ask Jephthah to lead them into battle against their enemies. He agrees, but then makes a rash vow. He says that upon his successful return he will give an offering to God.

Jephthah pledges to sacrifice the first thing that comes through the door of his house as a burnt offering to thank God for his victory. Jephthah assumes it will be an animal.

He is indeed victorious.

However, to his dismay, the first thing that walks through the door when he returns home is his daughter, his only child. She dances in celebration for his success. He laments the foolish promise he made to God but feels obligated to fulfill it.

Jephthah’s daughter doesn’t complain about her father’s careless pledge. Instead, she confirms he must follow through. Her only request is a two-month reprieve to mourn her fate with her friends. Then Jephthah does as he vowed.

What is unclear is if Jephthah physically sacrifices his daughter, something Moses prohibited, or if her life is redeemed for service to God, like Hannah’s giving of Samuel to serve God in the temple.

Regardless, it’s clear that Jephthah’s daughter will not enjoy the future she expected, for she willingly accepts the consequences of her father’s impulsive promise to God. We commend her for her pious attitude, all the while being reminded to be careful with what we promise.

When faced with circumstances beyond our control, do we challenge the injustice or accept it with God-honoring dignity?

[Discover more about Jephthah’s daughter in Judges 11:30–40.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: The Daughters of Job

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 24, 2021

After Satan’s tormenting of the innocent Job, God restores what Satan took away, which includes all his possessions and his first set of seven sons and three daughters. In fact, God doubles Job’s wealth and gives him ten more kids: seven more sons and three more daughters. Though the sons’ names aren’t recorded in Scripture, the daughter’s names are: Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-Happuch. The girls are heralded as the most beautiful in the land.

In mentioning them by name, the Bible honors Job’s girls, even at the risk of elevating them over their unnamed brothers. Even more so, Job goes against the conventional practice of the day, giving his daughters an inheritance along with their brothers.

In doing so, Job reveals his heart and God’s perspective. This is even more remarkable, given that Job lives in a male-dominated society.

May we see things as God sees them. What might we do to further God’s perspective, even if it means challenging the status quo?

[Discover more about Job’s three daughters in Job 42:13–15.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Tags Biblical Characters, Jemimah, Job, Keren-Happuch, Keziah

Biblical People

Bible People: Zilpah and Bilhah

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 24, 2021

Zilpah and Bilhah aren’t familiar women in the Bible, yet their contribution to the nation of Israel is significant.

When Laban’s two daughters marry Jacob, Dad gives them each a wedding gift: a servant. To his daughter Leah, he gives his servant Zilpah, while to his daughter Rachel, he gives Bilhah.

These servants should be nothing more than a footnote in history, but that’s not how the story unfolds. Their lives have a distressing parallel to Hagar who preceded them.

While Leah gives Jacob several sons, Rachel has no children. In desperation, she offers her servant, Bilhah, to her husband to make babies in her place. Her foolish husband agrees, impregnating his wife’s servant—twice.

Not to be outdone, Leah does the same thing, offering her servant, Zilpah, to sleep with Jacob. Zilpah also gets pregnant—twice. Eventually Rachel has two boys of her own, while Leah has six sons altogether.

As a result, the two servants produce four sons for Jacob. Of his twelve boys, four are not from his wives, but from his wives’ servants. The twelve boys become the twelve tribes of Israel (Jacob), so one third of the nation of Israel results from Jacob’s relationship with his wives’ two servants.

Zilpah and Bilhah have nothing to say in any of this. As servants, they must obey their mistresses. They are voiceless victims. But as he often does, God rewards the underdogs, with Zilpah and Bilhah’s offspring comprising one third of his chosen people.

Even when we feel like helpless, voiceless victims, God is on our side. Do we truly believe that?

[Discover more about Zilpah and Bilhah in Genesis 29–35.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Zipporah

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 24, 2021

With the pharaoh out to get him, Moses flees for his life. He marries the shepherdess Zipporah, daughter of the priest of Midian. They have two sons: Gershom and Eliezer.

Years later when Moses and his family travel to Egypt, God afflicts Moses. This is apparently because Moses has not circumcised his son Gershom, as God commanded the Israelites to do through Abraham.

Just as God is about to kill Moses for his disobedience, Zipporah takes decisive action. She whips out a knife, circumcises Gershom, and touches Moses with the removed foreskin. This appeases God, and he spares Moses.

Zipporah does what her husband did not do, she obeys God’s command, and saves her husband’s life.

Sometimes we must act when others fail to. How can we know when to act and when to wait?

[Discover more about Zipporah in Exodus 2:15–22, Exodus 4:24–26, and Exodus 18:2–6.]

Tags Biblical Characters, Zipporah

Biblical People

Biblical People: The Wife of Job

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 24, 2021

Through no fault of Job, Satan attacks him, wiping away his wealth and killing all his children. Next, Satan afflicts Job’s health, leaving him in agony. The suffering man wishes he were dead, that he’d never been born. All Job has left is his life, four unsupportive friends, and a wife who harasses him. Job may have been better off without her.

As Job struggles to maintain his faith in God and hold on to his righteousness, Job’s wife could choose to support him. She should be encouraging. Instead, she turns on him. She ridicules his integrity and suggests he just curse God so he can die.

Job does not waver. He calls her foolish and does not sin. God spares Job and restores what Satan took from him.

Do we encourage those closest to us when they go through tough times, or do we make things even harder for them?

[Discover more about Job’s wife in Job 1–2 and Job 42, especially Job 2:9–10.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: The Wife of Lot

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 24, 2021

After Lot and Abraham go their separate ways, Lot eventually moves to the city of Sodom. God is displeased with the great sin of the people who live there, and he plans to destroy the city and its inhabitants. However, two angels go there first to rescue Lot and his family.

The next day, at dawn, the angels drag Lot, his wife, and his two daughters out of the city. As soon as they get out, the angels tell them to run for their lives, to not stop, and to not look back.

As they flee, Lot’s wife can’t help herself. She looks back at what they are leaving behind. When she does, she dies, turning into a pillar of salt.

Jesus mentions Lot’s wife when he talks about the coming kingdom of God. He effectively says, look forward to what will be. Don’t look back at what you’re leaving behind.

Don’t be like Lot’s wife.

When we follow Jesus, do we look ahead to what he offers or long for the old life we left behind?

[Discover more about Lot’s wife in Genesis 19:15–16, 26 and Luke 17:30–32.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: The Daughters of Lot

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 24, 2021

Lot has a creepy relationship with his daughters. He isn’t a good dad. I feel sorry for his girls.

First, when the inhospitable men of Sodom rush Lot’s house to have sex with the two men (actually angels) staying there, Lot tries to reason with them.

He protects the angels and begs the townsmen not to pursue their wicked desires. As an alternative, he offers them his two virgin daughters to molest. How could a father even think of doing such a despicable thing? Fortunately for the girls, the townsmen aren’t interested.

A loving dad would never consider offering his daughters to satisfy men’s depravity. What did Lot’s daughters think about their father after his cavalier dismissal of their chastity? What did his actions say about his view of their value as females? How could they maintain any self-worth?

Later, we find Lot and his daughters hunkered in a cave, isolated from other people. He’s getting old. There are no men in sight, and the girls’ biological clocks are ticking.

Desperate, they concoct a heinous plan. On successive nights, they get their dad drunk and sleep with him. Both get pregnant and each give birth to a son.

While we can blame the girls for their depravity, I accuse Lot and his bad parenting as the primary offender. He shows his moral failings by offering up his daughters for sex, and they likely form their moral compass from his actions.

Through this he effectively communicates their prime value is for sex. They merely seek to live out what he expects.

True, the girls are not innocent for their actions, but Lot could have produced a different outcome had he been a better father.

What kind of influence do we have on those around us? What must we begin to do differently?

[Discover more about Lot’s two daughters in Genesis 19:4–38.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: Sarah (1)

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 24, 2021

The story of Sarah (first called Sarai) is scattered throughout the narrative in Genesis chapters 11 through 23. Not only is she the first wife of Abraham, she is also his half sister. Though this makes us squirm today, at the time, a man marrying his half sister isn’t prohibited.

Sarah, whose name means princess, is most attractive. Abraham worries that would-be suitors will kill him to get her, so he asks her to say she is his sister. He even says this will be an act of love.

She agrees and does so—twice—with other men taking her as their wife. Both times God protects Sarah and works out her return to Abraham, but what torment she must go through when they take her away, and Abraham does nothing to stop them.

Although God repeatedly promises Abraham children, Sarah grows tired of waiting. In her old age she concocts a plan where Abraham can have his promised child through her servant, Hagar. It’s an ill-conceived idea, and Abraham is boneheaded for going along with it. Conflict results.

Later God confirms that Abraham’s chosen child will come from Sarah. She laughs at this improbable promise, and God criticizes her for it. A year later, the child is born when Sarah is ninety and Abraham is one hundred. They name him Isaac, which means laughter or he laughs.

Sarah lives another thirty-seven years and dies at age 127.

With God, all things are possible, even a ninety-year-old woman having a baby or living 127 years.

Do we ever get tired of waiting for God and mess up his plans by doing things our way?

[Discover more about Sarah in Genesis 11–23, specifically Genesis 20:12 and Genesis 21:1–7.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Tags Biblical Characters, Sarah